Help hopeless

users
#1

I've noticed over the last several releases that the help provided via
the main menu bar is hopelessly inaccurate.

E.g., today I wanted to set up a document with an image as the
background. The help search returned a section of backgrounds ->
colors/images and it says to click on Format -> Page and select the
Backgrounds tab. There isn't one. There is a Colors tab, but it's
not clear what that really means.

There have been other such inaccuracies I've seen in the past, though
in my haste I've never documented them but just plowed ahead and
blundered through.

In a professional production, help menus should match the actual
features of the application. LibreOffice can (and should) do better.

MR

#2

Try Format > Page > Area > Bitmap.

You have to add your background image to the list of bitmaps shown on the left side.  The only problem, for me, is getting the image options the way I want it to look on the page. I use this a lot for making posters for events - both Letter size, Tabloid [11"x17"] size paper printed "in-house".

Does this help?

#3

:

Try Format > Page > Area > Bitmap.

You have to add your background image to the list of bitmaps shown on the
left side. The only problem, for me, is getting the image options the way I
want it to look on the page. I use this a lot for making posters for events
- both Letter size, Tabloid [11"x17"] size paper printed "in-house".

Does this help?

I found it. It's not hard to find.

My complaint is about the help function not having the right information.

What kind of help is that? (Big hint: NOT.)

Thanks.

MR

#4

Hi MR,

I found it. It's not hard to find.

My complaint is about the help function not having the right information.

What kind of help is that? (Big hint: NOT.)

Thanks.

MR

Could you please tell us the version of LibreOffice you are using?

LibreOffice is run by volunteers and sometimes items (such as help
items) are still in the "catch-up" phase.

Additionally, feel free to note any help issues on this list and one of
us will try to confirm and submit a bug for you. Or, you could also help
by submitting a bug yourself so that it may be fixed. We welcome new bug
submitters quite happily.

Thanks for helping out and letting us know if that particular issue.

Marc

#5

Hi Marc
Hi the others, as well.

Some people will tell "us" things like "I use LibreOffice 5.4.3", but do not include which Operating System they use. Sometimes there are problems that are OS problem and not LibreOffice.  I had one printer/scanner that would not print duplex documents from LibreOffice [I forget the LO version for Ubuntu]. Since I could print PDF documents in duplex mode, I though it was LO at fault. I could not get it working until there was a major upgrade from 12.04 to 13.10 or 14.04.  So it was not a LO issue like I thought.  So, the OS and the version of that OS may be needed when asking for help.

Looking at the Download page, there are currently 7 different downloads for the versions available.

    Linux x86_64 (deb),  Linux x86_64 (rpm)
    Linux x86 (deb),  Linux x86 (rpm)
    Mac OS X x86_64
    Windows x86_64,  Windows x86

Then for Linux there are different distros like Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and others, that use the DEB package versions.  Plus, there is different options for Ubuntu, such as 16.04, 16.10, 17.04, 17.10, available to download or upgrade to. Of course there are other variants for Linux like Ubuntu GNOME, MATE, etc..  I use 16.04 MATE, plus one 14.04 MATE system - since it crashes every time I try to upgrade or install 16.04.

I do not have any RPM based systems, so I do not know how many versions of Linux that use RPM for their packages.

I also do not use/own any Mac systems as well.

There are still people using Windows 7, who have not upgraded to Windows 10.  I know a few people who went back to Windows 7 after they tried Windows 10. Personally I have installed Win10 on all my Windows systems.

OK that was my 2 cents worth, or maybe a centavo's worth, since 2 USA cents is not very useful anymore.

#6

:

Could you please tell us the version of LibreOffice you are using?

LibreOffice is run by volunteers and sometimes items (such as help
items) are still in the "catch-up" phase.

Additionally, feel free to note any help issues on this list and one of
us will try to confirm and submit a bug for you. Or, you could also help
by submitting a bug yourself so that it may be fixed. We welcome new bug
submitters quite happily.

Thanks for helping out and letting us know if that particular issue.

I'd be happy to file a bug, except I don't see a bug report option or
link at TDF's web site, and my freedesktop bugzilla login doesn't list
LO as a product against which to tile a bug.

I am running LO 5.4.4.2 on Xubuntu 16.04, and I have seen this problem
many times in the past.

This particular problem I described in my original post:

I wanted to set up a document with an image as the
background. The help search returned a section of Backgrounds ->
Colors/Images and it says to click on Format -> Page and select the
Backgrounds tab.

There isn't one. There is a Colors tab, but it's
not clear what that really means.

I'll report every one I find from now on. If I had a link to the most
appropriate bugzilla site, I'd be happy to report these there.

Thanks.

#7

MR ZenWiz wrote:

:

Could you please tell us the version of LibreOffice you are using?

LibreOffice is run by volunteers and sometimes items (such as help
items) are still in the "catch-up" phase.

Additionally, feel free to note any help issues on this list and one of
us will try to confirm and submit a bug for you. Or, you could also help
by submitting a bug yourself so that it may be fixed. We welcome new bug
submitters quite happily.

Thanks for helping out and letting us know if that particular issue.

I'd be happy to file a bug, except I don't see a bug report option or
link at TDF's web site, and my freedesktop bugzilla login doesn't list
LO as a product against which to tile a bug.

Short answer: it's now at <https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/>

To find your way there from the <https://www.libreoffice.org/> home page, select Get Involved > Testing - QA from the menu at the top of the page, and then there's a link to "File a bug". I thought at one time the bug tracker was linked directly from the menu on the home page, but I may be mistaken...

The LibreOffice bug tracker was moved from freedesktop.org a couple of years ago. If you had an account on freedesktop.org, you might be able to continue using the same username after resetting your password. At least that was possible immediately after the migration; I don't know if there was a time limit on reactivating accounts from the old system on the new. Even if you can remember your password from freedesktop.org, you'd need to reset it since only usernames, not the associated passwords, were migrated.

If you have the time and want to work more directly on updating / correcting the documentation, you may like to take a look at <https://www.libreoffice.org/community/docs-team/>.